Currently hand tools, knives, gouges, and the like are used to produce incised (chip) carving. Alternatively, templates can be traced in two-dimensions with engravers or routers. CNC routers and carving machines use 2-dimensional tool paths or use scanning routines to produce 3-dimensional shapes. Some high-quality furniture is carved by a combination of machines and by hand. Some carving is done by routers but it is done either by hand or from a template and the quality is low. Most router carvings have rounded corners which reveal the shape of the tool used. The system of the present invention does not have to round the corners which are drawn with angles. This invention is novel because a 2-dimensional drawing is used to compute the third dimension automatically and thus define the final shape and appearance of the work piece.
There are four main categories of similar devices or processes. First there are multiple carving machines which use an original carving and copy it many times (such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,049). The system of the present invention requires no original to be traced. Because of this, the system of the present invention can efficiently produce a single carving.
Second are processes that produce a carved or machined shape. Some of these produce the carved shape by tracing in a raster or a boustrophedonic manner. The tool paths created by the system of the present invention are not made this way. An NC data creation method is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,806 but this uses surfaces and a ball-nose tool whereas the system of the present invention uses two-dimensional boundaries (or three-dimensional boundaries of specific shapes) and the shape of the tool. Methods such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,806 are only intended to rough out the shape to make the finishing process easier.
Third are signs produced with a router and a template. These require rounded corners which reveal the shape of the tool and make the work look mass-produced. The system of the present invention requires no rounded corners because the system of the present invention cleans up all corners.
Fourth are individuals who hand-carve signs and other works. We have taken what was once done by hand with flat knives and changed the process so that the results look the same but the carvings can be done by a conical tool.